New Columba River Crossing talks?

Two southwestern Washington lawmakers are pushing to create a bipartisan group of legislators from Washington and Oregon to determine a path forward on an Interstate 5 bridge replacement project.

The Columbian newspapaper in Vancouver reports that Rep. Liz Pike and Sen. Ann Rivers, both Republicans, are in the process of reaching out to Oregon lawmakers and their Democratic counterparts in Washington. By the end of the month, they hope to have about 30 lawmakers signed on to the Bistate Bridge Coalition.

After Washington lawmakers declined to vote to pay their share of the $2.9 billion Columbia River Crossing, Oregons governor pushed ahead to consider an Oregon-only project. The go-it-alone strategy failed to garner enough votes in 2014 and the project was declared dead.